SYNOPSIS:

May 4, 1970, less than one year after the "Summer of Love," students at Kent State University in America's heartland of Kent, Ohio, learn of the U.S. military's invasion of Cambodia and escalation of armed conflict in Vietnam, despite assurances from the President. So they stage a passionate yet peaceful protest against this latest in a series of betrayals by their government. Fearing the students may become unruly and perhaps destructive to campus property and local businesses (as had occurred on a few other campuses around the country), Kent Mayor Leroy Satrom declares a state of emergency and asks Governor James Allen Rhodes for assistance. Governor Rhodes calls a press conference in which he identifies the protestors as un-American then dispatches the National Guard, who quickly roll battle-ready into small-town Kent in jeeps and amphibious vehicles, armed with tear gas as well as bayonets fixed on M-1 automatic rifles issued with magazines of live ammunition. National Guard troops, many the same age as the students, took only about 13 seconds to fire 67 rounds of live ammo into a crowd of unarmed students, 4 lay dead and another 9 were wounded. Kent State follows a class of photography students and their professor as they experience life and attempt to learn its lessons, when suddenly America's citizens are confronted with a perfect storm of an increasingly unpopular war, student unrest, the upheaval of civil rights and erosion of social norms and traditions, which was terrifying to many who wanted nothing more than a hasty return of our country to its glory days of tradition and ultra-conservative values. The "Kent State" screenplay by Craig Richards and Matt Pinard is a intimately-told story with national and international implications.